Celebrate clocking out with this fun historic footage from the Library of Congress.
We usually don’t think of our corseted ancestors as laughing and running, but these Gibson Girl wannabes show a lively view into the working world of women at the turn of the 20th century.
We see factory workers taking time checks either at the beginning or end of a workday at a Westinghouse factory in Pittsburg in 1904. One young woman scampers laughing off screen after she drops her check. Wait until the end to see some quick steps of a more masculine sort.
Filmed for American Mutoscope Company by cameraman Billy Bitzer on April 26, 1904 in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this footage could potentially show an ancestor if you can pinpoint her whereabouts and work activity.
The footage also provides a view of 1900s fashions for working women.
Want to show your family how great-great-grandma dressed? Here’s one way to do it. Like other footage from the Paper Print Collection, this motion picture is in the public domain. So you can use it as part of an Ancestor Story Video!
Start telling your ancestor’s story using some free tools. Click here to download.
Want to make a video now? Learn how to plan and create a short Ancestor Story Video with the Ancestor’s Alive On Video course. Get started here.
Show your family history!